Why Mexico City Us A Top Market For Many Musicians

While places like Los Angeles, New York, or London are likely to jump out as 'music cities', one which doesn't always leap to mind is Mexico City. While off the radar, however, Mexico's capital is becoming the number one market for a number of high profile artists, particularly where streaming is concerned.

Whenever we think of the top music market for an artist, the major city centers of New York, Los Angeles or London immediately come to mind. One that’s been off the radar but is coming fast is Mexico City, and it’s already the #1 market for a diverse number of artists like Diplo, Adele, Dua Lipa, Radiohead, Shania Twain, Harry Styles and Metallica, at least as far as Spotify is concerned as outlined in this Billboard post.

In fact, Spotify has 64% of Mexico’s streaming market, which dwarfs Google Play (12%), Apple Music (8%) and Tidal (2%), according to 2016 data from the Competitive Intelligence Unit. One of the reasons why Spotify dominates comes thanks to its cell phone bundle deals with Virgin Mobile and Movistar, which is happening in other huge markets like China and India as well.

While this might be a surprise to many, the reason behind Mexico City’s rise is due to the fact that its metro area population now stands at more than 21 million, which is far more than any other North American market.

Another reason is the cost of a Spotify paid subscription, which now costs 99 pesos (or around $5.23USD). Thanks to the low cost, its virtually eliminated physical piracy, which ran rampant in the country prior to streaming. A typical pirated CD goes for around 250 pesos ($13.20USD) on the street. What’s more, Mexico has now become Spotify’s 3rd highest volume for streams, just after the U.S. and the U.K., meaning that its users there do actually take full advantage of the service.

While physical piracy is becoming less of a factor, Mexico City does seem to be center for purchased fake Likes and streams. Electronic artists like Avicii, Skrillex, David Guetta and Steve Aoki have been accused of purchasing Facebook Likes in the past, since it became obvious when so many originated from that city. That said, Facebook has made a concerted effort to crack down on these accounts.

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